


Monkey See

by CravenWyvern



Series: Failed Step One [6]
Category: Don't Starve (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Hinted reincarnation, Monkey Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 11:08:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17042591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CravenWyvern/pseuds/CravenWyvern
Summary: Wilbur certainly preferred this over his dumb old cage.Whether or not the Men around him did didn't matter whatsoever to the monkey.





	Monkey See

**Author's Note:**

> I like the fact that I don't feel obligated to explain anything when writing for a monkey.
> 
> Also I remember seeing one (1) fic once that had Wilbur hanging out with Maxwell and I support the idea of the old man being a substitute tree.

There was a Man, coming in through the door.

Wilbur snarled, lips peeling back to bare teeth at him, and had a small moment of satisfaction from the flash of fear and skittishness that threaded through the intruder.

But then his perch, another Man, made a displeased sound, rolled his stiff shoulders and almost shrugged the monkey off. Whipping his tail around and around, curling down an arm and tightening to keep his balance, Wilbur hooted out a sound and adjusted himself, long fingers grabbing onto his perches scalp.

Not much of a grip available, hair too thin to grasp tightly to, but the monkey made do, laying himself over his perches head and turning wide eyes back to the Man. He bore his teeth again, a silent threat of a bite, having already tasted blood before. 

“Is that...is that comfortable?” The intruder made a face, threw his arms about almost helplessly, glancing at Wilbur before turning his gaze back to the monkeys perch. “At all, in any way?”

“What do you think, Higgsbury?” 

Wilbur growled, low in his throat as his perch shifted a bit, thin gangly hands tightening about and digging into skin, enough to cause a hiss of irritation from under him. His tail curled tighter, kept a strong grip as Wilbur rocked for a moment to and fro, hooting out hostile noise at the Man, who was very obviously causing a disturbance to Wilburs Man perch.

Said perch wasn't all that balanced to begin with, but also-

Said perch had given him food, and good food, earlier. That made this one Man better than anything else in this room. 

Better than a stinky cage too.

And certainly better than the intruding Man, who Wilbur very clearly remembered had tried to drag him out from under the bed, which had been the monkeys new hiding spot.

Wilbur hadn't bitten this Man, but another one, yet the monkey wasn't forgiving in the slightest. His tail still felt sore from all the yanking.

“He won't bite you, will he?”

Wilburs perch sighed, stiff shoulders sagging and causing the monkey to latch on all the more.

“I would hope not.”

Wilbur huffed, pursed his lips before baring his teeth one more time at the Man. Then he searched again to find a more comfortable position, untwining his tail and grabbing and tugging with his nimble hands, causing his perch to grunt with irritation as he wiggled about.

As he got more comfortable, this time turning his back to the intruder and throwing his head up to side eye him, Wilbur's tail curled loosely about as a safety net.

There was a snort from the Man, face shifting before he covered his mouth, turned, and started to make a racket of wheezed sounds.

“Is this funny to you, Higgsbury!?”

Wilburs perch tensed, jerked as if to stand up, but Wilbur hooted out a threatening sound and all that happened was that his perch crossed his arms about his chest and glowered at the Man.

Patting his perches balding head idly, Wilbur turned away from the Man and looked up at the ceiling, not at all concerned.

That other Man was no threat, right now at least, so he didn't care anymore. His perch was as uncomfortable as always, but at least this Man wasn't trying to get Wilbur to do anything that he didn't want to do. Sometimes the tricks were fun, and sometimes it was funny when all the Men laughed and made funny noises, tossed things to Wilbur, but then later he'd be stuffed into a rotten cage and that just wasn't a good payoff at all.

This Man had known his name too! Wilbur hasn't heard anyone call him that in a really, really long time.

“I'm sorry, it's just…” the other Man shuffled forward, and Wilbur realized he had something in his hands, fiddling with absentmindedly. “Are you sure a monkey was who we were after?”

“Oh, perhaps not Higgsbury, perhaps I just wanted a damnable pet monkey for the ride.” 

The other Man made a face, which looked really confused to Wilbur.

“No, you idiot! What, you actually think I want this?” Wilburs perch jerked his arm up, raised to wave at Wilbur, and after a moment of silence the monkey raised his own hand and lightly slapped it.

“...Did it just high five you?”

“Why yes, great observation, glad to know you have eyes.” His perch dropped his arm back down, and Wilbur huffed quietly, tail tightening its grip from where he had wrapped it. The Man made a noise and poked at his tail, wrapped around his neck, and Wilbur turned his gaze away as if he didn't care or understand.

He did loosen up though. Wilbur didn't want his Man perch to get hurt.

After all, he had given Wilbur blueberries. If the Man was dead, there would be no more berries.

“Did you at least get what I asked for? I swear, if I have to sit here another hour with a bloody monkey on my head I will lose it-”

“Yes yes, I got them alright? Sorry it took so long, finding gauze and antiseptic for Willows bite sort of took a bit, and then we had to find dinner for the kids.” Wilbur tensed as the other Man made a move towards him and his perch, baring his teeth, but then his perch reached over and took the thing from the other Man's hands and all was well once more. “Wes is with them, by the way. They went to a place nearby, something to do with pancakes I think. Pancakes, at this time of night?”

Wilburs perch ignored the other Man, and after a moment Wilbur also decided to do that. Because, in his perches hands, was a container of blueberries.

With a hoot of sound Wilbur leapt off his perches shoulder, tail untwining as he slid into the Mans lap, already grabbing for the food. His perch made a sound of displeasure, but let the monkey have at it, stuffing the berries into his mouth and chattering happily.

“Was that all it wanted?”

“Probably. He is just a monkey, after all.”

Wilbur ignored the two Men, one his absolute favorite and one that he'd now tolerate due to him having brought the berries here, and continued eating, tail twining absentmindedly about his perches arm. 

Berries were the best thing Wilbur has ever eaten, besides maybe bananas, but he never got many of those. So he'd take the blueberries, though he absolutely knew they were supposed to be red.

It wasn't the Mans fault though. He probably just didn't know where to find the red ones. The Man that was now his perch had apologized for the difference when Wilbur had first snarled at him, because he was a stranger and Wilbur had never seen him in his life. 

But he smelled familiar, and his voice was sort of familiar, and he had also broken open Wilburs cage and given Wilbur a handful of blueberries, free of charge. And then had taken Wilbur elsewhere, away from where he would perform, and there had been other Men too.

Wilbur was fine with biting those other Men, but not this one. This one knew his name, and that meant something.

Also the berries. That probably meant a whole lot more to Wilbur.

“Do you want to go eat? The others are probably still there, Webber said he was going to get the never ending pancakes, and I'm pretty sure he can't eat all of that by himself.” Wilburs perch hummed in disinterest, and the monkey got himself comfortable, sitting down right in the Mans lap and holding the blueberries close, popping them into his mouth as he looked over at the other Man in curiosity. Why was he still here again? “...And I don't want Wes and Willow to eat all that without me. You know, even though I'm not currently there right now, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to pay for it.”

Wilburs perch still didn't give an answer, which was fine by Wilbur. He didn't want his seat to get up or anything, because he was pretty sure after eating he was going to take a nap, right here.

It wasn't comfortable, but Wilbur was very sure that it was very safe. It was the safest place ever.

Besides other places, of course. Other Men, from somewhere else, and Wilbur sort of remembered them but also didn't. 

Back in his cage, after a long day of hopping around and getting thrown coins and green paper, sometimes he dreamed that he was far away, somewhere surrounded by salty water, and sometimes the other Men were there too. Wilbur didn't remember them, not anymore, but he sure did miss them.

The other Man was silent for a few moments more, before he seemed to suddenly realize something.

“...Oh, if you’re not here, no one would be watching the monkey.” Wilbur growled, quietly, and distracted himself with another berry. That other Man was okay, but he was toeing the line because he wasn't leaving. Maybe, if Wilbur bit him, he'd leave, and then this weird room would be safe once more.

Wilbur would have his familiar perch, and his blueberries, and everything would be well again. At least until another Man came along and tried to yank his tail, but he was sure his perch would yell at them if they did.

It was sort of nice, like having a personal guard. Maybe, if his perch continued to watch his back, Wilbur would watch the Mans back too.

“You are a genius, Higgsbury, or have I already said that enough?” That almost sounded like a growl, and Wilbur paused a moment to look up at his perch. 

The Man wasn't looking at the other Man, nor at Wilbur, not looking at anyone really. He didn't look all that happy though.

Wilbur took a moment to hoot at him, patting his arm lightly before grabbing a blueberry and offering it to him.

The Man raised an eyebrow at him, still frowning, then waved away the monkeys offering.

“Er, no thank you, Wilbur.”

Wilbur looked back and forth between Man and berry, shrugged, and popped the blueberry into his mouth. Oh well.

“...I can pick something up for you, if you want? Or get Wes to pack up some of those pancakes, if there's any left.”

“I suppose if it's not too out of the way and you still remember, what with how much thinking you've been doing lately…”

The other Man huffed, might have stomped his foot, but Wilbur was more paying attention the berries than anything else. This was a lot more than what he had been offered earlier, more than he's ever seen in his life probably, so whatever the other Man did wasn't all that important. As long as he didn't bother Wilburs perch into standing up.

Because Wilbur was sitting here, and he didn't want to be moved. Ever.

“Stop that, alright? I don't know why you've gotten so damn grumpy all of a sudden, but for God's sakes, get over it. Now, do you want me to get something for you, or do I have to go get Wes so that he can figure out what's bothering you instead?”

Silence, for a moment, besides Wilburs low chattering to himself, before his perch sighed and finally accepted defeat. 

There sure was a lot of stress in the air, Wilbur thought vaguely. Maybe he should take that as a warning sign.

“Fine, Higgsbury, fine. Do what you want, I don't find myself caring in the slightest.”

The other Man made a sound, irritated, and Wilbur turned his gaze to him with a hoot, his own warning, before popping a few more blueberries into his mouth.

It was pretty clear what he wanted: stop bothering his perch.

The other Man threw up his hands, looked even more frustrated, but he didn't say anything and instead swung around to the door, muttering under his breath as he stomped his way out.

Or would have, had Wilburs perch not spoken up.

“While you are out, I do have a favor to ask.” The other Man glowered, a hard set frown on his face, but Wilburs perch didn't seem to care at all and droned on. “See if you can find a crown somewhere.”

That stopped the other Man in his tracks, confusion setting on his face.

“...a crown?”

“I'm fairly certain you heard me, Higgsbury. I don't care what it is made of, just find one.” Then Wilburs perch waved his hands a shooing motion. “That's all.”

The frown came back to the other Man's face, though not as livid, and he shook his head before finally leaving, door shutting behind him.

Wilburs perch untensed with a sigh, and the monkey shook the container of berries, now empty as he eyed it. All gone.

“You still don't quite know the concept of rationing, do you?”

Nope, not at all. Wilbur shifted himself, got comfortable as his tail twisted about his perches arm a bit more loosely, tossing the empty container away and hooting quietly. 

“...I suppose not.”

With that Wilbur tuned out his perches dull voice, closing his eyes as he huffed. With his belly full and feeling safer than usual, Wilbur was ready for a nap.

And, even all boney and uncomfortable like this, this Man was much better than Wilburs old rusty cage. So Wilbur was fine staying here. 

As long as no one else tried to pull his tail. The next bite he'd have to deliver he'd make sure to take a finger as well. The stupid Men around here should know better by now.


End file.
